Rolling Stone reports the rocker realized he had a problem when his right thumb had swollen to "the size of an f-in' lightbulb," according to Ozzy, who says "I freaked out."
A visit to the emergency room confirmed the Black Sabbath legend had contracted a potentially deadly staph infection...and not just one, but three individual ones in his thumb and one had spread to his middle finger.
A staph infection occurs when otherwise normal germs on a person's skin find a way into a person's bloodstream, at which point they could turn deadly if not treated.
Asked how he could have gotten it. "The doctor said to me, 'Can you remember talking to someone and shaking hands?'" Osbourne recalls. "Well, I do that meet and greet at the gig and I must shake 200 hands a day. He said, 'That explains it.'"
Following surgery, the singer was sent home with a special soap for his hand and was told to soak it twice a day for about 10 days while continuing to see a specialist.
The situation saw the rocker postpone, cancel and ultimately reschedule what were to be the final four US shows of the year; stops in Mountain View, CA, Chula Vista, CA, Los Angeles, CA and Las Vegas, NV were moved to July 2019.
"I was really looking forward to doing the Hollywood Bowl," adds Osbourne. "I'm going to make those shows up next year. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been dead." Read more
here.
The band, featuring bassist Tony Campos, guitarist Koichi Fukuda and drummer Ken Jay, have assembled vocal performances and musical compositions left behind by late frontman Wayne Static, who passed away in 2014.
The group recruited a number of high profile singers and friends to lend their vocal talents to the tracks that will appear on the new album, Project Regeneration, which will be released next spring.
Tony Campos shared these details, "We have confirmed interest from our friends David Draiman, Ivan Moody, Al Jorgensen, Dez Fafara, Edsel Dope, Burton C Bell, and a few others.
"Unfortunately, due to everyone's crazy schedules, it is a little early to know how things will shake out. We are more than confident that the album will have some incredible guest vocalists, but it should be noted that it is still too early to count anyone in 100%."
The tour details are to be revealed in the coming weeks but the band says that they will be performing most of their debut album on the trek which will serve as memorial events to honor Wayne Static.
Tony had this to say, "With the 20th anniversary of Wisconsin Death Trip quickly approaching, it feels like the right time to pay our respects to the band, to Wayne, and to all the fans who have been with us right from the start.
"We had a lot of material to work with... several demos that Wayne left behind, as well as some really great isolated vocal performances from some nearly finished songs. Together, we have been writing and crafting something very special!"
The group has shared a new teaser that features clips from a brand new music video, as well as five new Static-X tracks - "Road To Hell", "Something Of My Own", "Terminator Oscillator", "Hollow" and "Disco Otsego" - along with a personal message from bassist Tony Campos about the inspiration behind Project Regeneration. Check it out
The band announced that they will be playing a series of tour dates next summer that will include appearances at a number of leading European music festivals including Download, Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park, Graspop and more.
Far closer to home, the band also announced that they will be making their very first appearance at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, August 10th. "I'm gonna drive from my house directly to the stage just like I do when I come to the fair," M. Shawn Crahan told Des Moines Register. "It makes no sense why we haven't played here. This long into (Slipknot)? It's fabulous." See the Euro dates
here.
Neil tweeted news that he was working with producer Bob Rock in Nashville, TN on October 22, writing: "Me and Bob Rock finished 2 songs today! Great recording with him again."
In August, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee confirmed the studio sessions are for the recording of four new songs for the film and companion soundtrack album.
Currently in production ahead of its release via Netflix, the group's biopic is directed by Jeff Tremaine and features Daniel Webber as Neil, Douglas Booth as bassist Nikki Sixx, rapper Machine Gun Kelly as drummer Tommy Lee, and Iwan Rheon as guitarist Mick Mars. Read more
here.
The band will perform shows in Berlin, Germany, Dublin, Ireland and London, UK in early June (see dates below) with their newly-revamped lineup featuring Mike Campbell of Tom Petty's band and Neil Finn of Crowded House/Split Enz fame in place of longtime guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, following his firing earlier this year.
"We are thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family," says the band. "With Mike and Neil, we'll be performing all the hits that the fans love, plus we'll be surprising our audiences with some tracks from our historic catalogue of songs. Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution. We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour."
Tickets for the three concerts will go on sale starting on Friday, October 26 at 9am local time. See the dates
here.
"UK and Europe!," says the band. "We are coming back in 2019 and we are bring our friends Kvelertak and Mutoid Man! To add to the fun, our good buddy Scott Kelly of Neurosis will be joining us on stage for select dates!"
A ticket presale starts Wednesday, October 24 at 10am GMT, with general public seats available Friday, October 26 at 10am GMT.
Mastodon recently cancelled a North American tour and shared news that longtime manager, Nick John, was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer before his passing on September 8. See the tour dates
here.
The song, which first appeared on the Seattle band's thirteenth album, 2004's "Jupiter Darling", is the first preview of the set, which captures their appearance on the VH1 series "Decades Rock Live!"
The event saw the classic rock veterans joined by a host of guests, including Alice In Chains, Duff McKagan, Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction, Carrie Underwood, Gretchen Wilson and Rufus Wainwright.
Each guest artist had the chance to perform two or three tracks together with the band, as they delivered a set of classic rock songs from their catalog alongside a pair of Led Zeppelin tunes and a jam on some Alice In Chains tracks with McKagan and their fellow Seattle rockers.
"Heart: Live In Atlantic City" will be released in multiple formats, including LP, CD, DVD, BluRay and Digital Download. Watch the video
here.
"Empty Glow" was the song that wrote itself. We all holed ourselves up in our rehearsal space and began to noodle around. The intro chords looped themselves and we were all in a vibe. I think it was the song that taught us most about our chemistry and how easy it was to come up with an idea together.
However, the words didn't make themselves known until right when we recorded them. I had been going through some things and they all kind of surmounted the week that I was in the vocal booth. The main hook ("I'm caught in the endless glow...") came to me while I was noodling around on the guitar.
It was originally called "Golden Showers" (we still call it that) but it was voted down. I don't know why.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album
right here!
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